 Matthew 5:1-12 April 8, 2007
Way back when, as we prepared to begin the season of Lent on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday (Feb. 18th), we began to look together at these amazing statements of Jesus called The Beatitudes. That morning, 8 weeks ago, I asked these questions: 1. What compelled Jesus to ascend to a high place and take a seat to teach the crowds that day and teach hundreds of millions of people in the days since? 3. If being blessed is something done to or for us, is there something we can do, or is there nothing we can do to go higher on the mountain with him?
• I can remember that without Jesus working inside of me, to help me think like him, to help me restrain myself from asserting my own will, to help me keep my tongue in check, to help me see who needs an encouraging word, a comforting word, a corrective word according to God’s Word, without Jesus working inside of me, I simply cannot do it His way. • I have learned that I must pray before I put my feet on the floor in the morning, because as soon as my feet hit the floor, my mind is already racing with how I am going to structure the things on my list of things to do. I really like this prayer I found as a way to start the day:
When I started this sermon series, I used Mother Teresa as our example of what a person’s life can look like if they are truly poor in spirit. Listen to these words that were written on a wall in the children’s home she started in Calcutta: • People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. • If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. • If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. • If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. • What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. • If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. • The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. • Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. • In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
Here’s the clipboard. I want everyone who’s ready to do all that for an ‘atta boy’ or ‘atta girl’ reward in some spiritual, invisible kingdom please sign your name. • I mean, after all, your reward might be an MVP trophy for that time you helped that poor woman get all those heavy groceries into her trunk, in the rain, snow, sleet, and hail, with 50 mile per hour winds, when your arm was in that big heavy cast... • Gee, it could be a really big certificate or degree, sort of like my fancy doctoral degree, for that time you read through the Bible in a Year, or even read the Bible at all… • Maybe it might be a mink coat as a thank you for all the blankets you gave away for the homeless shelter that time, or that really big check you wrote for the mission team… • Wow – what if it was a cash reward? Like 1 million dollars? That would be really useful in heaven, wouldn’t it? 1. something desirable given in return for what somebody has done – that somebody is not YOU – that somebody is JESUS for the fact that he took my sins and yours upon his body on that cross and died with them, so that we wouldn’t have to die with them! To say that that is something desirable is a grand understatement! What a reward! And this reward doesn’t just come in handy once we get to heaven – it comes in handy right now because we can live and die in peace that once we take that last breath, we’re home free! Which leads me to the second definition of reward: 2. Payment offered for the return of something lost or stolen – Did you have something lost or stolen? I did, and you did too. Way back when, in the days of the Garden of Eden, we were already home free. We were free from sin. When we gave in to the temptation to trust ourselves instead of trusting God completely, we lost that freedom, we lost our place in paradise, and we lost access to the Tree of Life - and the devil is the one who stole our sinless innocence. Remember, the devil comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. But JESUS’ victory over the dark life, his victory over giving in to temptation, his victory over DEATH so that we could be FREE AGAIN to LIVE NOW AND FOREVER in the PRESENCE of OUR LOVING GOD is the payment he made. Is this any value to you right now on earth? Does it matter to you that Jesus’ spirit, who lives within you purifies you, convicts you, and helps you keep your head above the darkness? Which leads me to the third and final definition of the word reward. 3. a benefit obtained as a result of an action taken or a job done – Jesus’ final words as he died on the cross for us were, “It is finished.” These are words you say when a job is done. Did WE get a benefit from this completed work? Let’s think: Is it a benefit to you and me when someone we love has died, to know they aren’t just dead and gone? Does this give you comfort and hope, now on earth? Is it a benefit to you and me to know that when God looks at us, he sees the righteous robes of Jesus covering us? Does this give you peace, now on earth? Psalm 103 tells us: Jesus wills for his disciples to desire the reward in heaven more than we desire the reward of the world. Jesus wills for us to have our treasure in heaven not on earth. Jesus wills for your heart to be so set on heaven that to leave this earth is a cause for great rejoicing. I thank the Lord for the day he opened my eyes and gave me resurrection hope for this dying world. I thank the Lord for the day he opened your eyes, too. But maybe, today is the first day you have seen the Truth, and your heart is breaking and pounding at the same time. Let me help you receive Jesus – your great reward. Let us pray:
Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus, that your grace always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus, by your Holy Spirit living within me now, transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor, not to myself, but to you alone. Help me remain faithful to You all the days of my life. Thank you that goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, that one day, I will receive a crown of righteousness, and that I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In Jesus' precious name I pray, Amen.
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